New Year’s Eve Celebrations around the World

New Year’s Eve is a wonderful celebration which marks the crossing from the current year to an exciting New Year full of possibilities. New Year’s Eve offers different meanings for individuals all over the world. Many people believe they can change important aspects of their lives with the coming of the New Year. Another belief holds that the first hours or even days of the New Year predict how the entire year will be for you. Because of this, people consider it extremely important to have celebratory plans with their loved ones during New Year’s Eve in order to spend all the Year doing the same.

Everywhere around the globe, New Year’s Eve is celebrated in a different manner. This is an important celebration for all people as they leave behind the past year and go forward into a New Year with hopes for health, wealth, love and success for all the aspects of their lives.

CANADA

In some countries like Canada, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening gatherings with friends or family in a previously planned destination such as a home or restaurant to hold a party celebrating the current year’s many events and the coming of the New Year and its many opportunities. As with any other regular social party, the guests will eat, dance, drink alcoholic beverages and have lots of fun together, while they wait for midnight. At midnight, they exchange a midnight kiss or light fireworks, both symbolic for the New Year’s Eve celebration. After midnight, the party can continue until morning.

MEXICO

In Mexico, there is a special custom which people do for New Year’s Eve that is a little different. They will eat a grape with each of the twelve chimes of a clock’s bell while counting down the seconds until midnight and with each grape eaten, they make a wish. The Mexican people celebrate New Year’s Eve with a late-night dinner with members of their families and at dinner, they serve the traditional meal which is constituted by turkey and mole. After dinner, some of the attendees will attend parties outside their home such as those held in night clubs.

PUERTO RICO

In Puerto Rico, the New Year’s Eve is also celebrated with family and friends but there is also a convention in San Juan, where people are entertained by Latin music and fireworks at midnight which is complemented by the “Auld Lang Syne” in Spanish.

NEW YORK

In New York, New Year’s Eve is celebrated by an old tradition called the “ball drop”, in which a crystal ball located on Times Square roof’s is lowered down during the last minute of the current year to reach the roof of the building exactly at the start of the New Year. Millions will attend this event while families across America will watch from their home television sets.

EUROPEAN CITIES

In European countries, New Year’s Eve is usually celebrated with friends and family at a house party or in a restaurant, but there are also a multitude of street parties which can usually be attended by anyone. The home or restaurant parties are accompanied by feasts where people usually serve traditional dishes. Champagne is enjoyed at midnight when people hold a glass of champagne in their hands and toast to the New Year with every other participant at the party.

The celebrations are different from country to country but they have some things in common regardless the country or the continent. The first and most important thing which is of high relevance for the New Year’s Eve celebration is being surrounded by friends and family, the ones you hold most dear. Another of course is good food and fireworks which are a part of almost every New Year’s Eve celebration across the world.

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